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Luke at a hustings event during the General Election campaign in Battersea in 2015.
About Luke
Local resident and experienced Liberal Democrat campaigner
Luke Taylor’s Personal Background.
Luke is Councillor in Sutton West and East Cheam ward in the constituency, and lives in Belmont Ward with his wife and two sons.
Luke works as a Project Manager and analyst for a consultancy, managing transport planning projects at airports around the world. He has a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College London.
His experience managing large and complex projects around the world has given him an appreciation of the importance of data and analysis to ensure that decisions are backed up by evidence. This is particularly important when planning campaigns and measuring the success of different messaging and policies.
In his professional life as well as politics, Luke understands that the most critical key to success is to involve the appropriate stakeholders at key stages of projects, in Sutton and Cheam the most important stakeholders will be the residents, but also include the campaign team members that will help unseat the current Tory MP.
Luke grew up in rural Lincolnshire, and spent many weekends helping his Dad leaflet and canvass small villages across the countryside. Luke’s Father was a Liberal Democrat District Councillor for 24 years, and he taught him about the great honour he had serving his community for that time, and helping those in need.
After graduating from Imperial College he started working for a large engineering consult in Central London and moved south of the river to Vauxhall and then to Battersea, then to Mitcham and finally moving with his family to Cheam in November 2020.
Luke and his two sons on the nursery run on their cargo bike
Luke is a big football fan, and a Sutton United season ticket holder
At Feasty Fest 2021 in Cheam Park with his family
Latchmere Lib Dem Focus Team 2010
Speaking to journalist at 2015 election count
Local TV Interview 2015
Luke's Political History
General Elections 2010 and 2015 in Wandsworth Borough and Battersea Constituency
In 2010 Luke stood for election for the first time, standing for Wandsworth Council in Latchmere Ward alongside Layla Moran. Luke also helped lead Layla’s campaign in Battersea in the 2010 General Election as well as the council campaign for the local party. Luke campaigned hard in Streatham and Richmond Park constituencies, which were both targets during that election.
In 2012 Luke’s work took him to Toronto, and included time in Dubai, Auckland, Singapore and Melbourne, before moving back to London in 2014. When Luke and his wife returned to London, they moved into a flat in Battersea, where Luke was then selected to stand as the Liberal Democrat candidate in the 2015 General Election.
As the candidate for Battersea, Luke ran a limited campaign in his own seat, and campaigned hard to try to keep our MPs in place in Kingston and Surbiton, Twickenham and Bermondsey.
Having experience of running a general election campaign is vital to be an effective candidate in a high-profile constituency like Sutton and Cheam.
General Elections 2017 and 2019 in Merton Borough and Mitcham and Morden Constituency
In summer 2015 Luke and his wife moved to Mitcham, where he again was involved with the local Liberal Democrats, helping with the General Election campaign in 2017, the council elections in 2018, and then being selected to be the candidate for the Mitcham and Morden Constituency in the 2019 General Election.
The constituency borders Worcester Park and Stonecot Wards in Sutton and Cheam, and in the election Luke increased the vote from 3.1% to 8.1% in a solo campaign, whilst playing a leading role on Paul Kohler’s campaign in Wimbledon where he missed out by just 628 votes.
Luke has proven he can run a successful General Election campaign, has experience of presenting Liberal Democrat policies and beliefs at Hustings events, and can attract new voters to the party.
Between the election being called on 6th November and election day on 12th December, Luke spoke to almost 1,500 people on the doorstep in Wimbledon, more 200 more than any other activist, including the candidate Paul Kohler himself!
Luke led canvass teams of all levels of experience and background, from first time activists, all the way up to an all star House of Lords team.
Conducting the auction at the 2021 Garden Party with the famous Blue Wall hammer
Sutton Borough and Sutton and Cheam Constituency
In November 2020 Luke moved to Cheam with his family. He chose Sutton because of all the things that the Sutton Liberal Democrats boast about being great in this Borough; the great schools, the lovely parks and playgrounds, the village high streets, the easy commute into London and the confidence that comes from low crime rates.
As soon as he arrived in Sutton Luke got stuck straight in on the local party management committee as the Fundraising and Events lead. Since the beginning of 2021 Luke has organised and run three successful virtual social and fundraising events and helped organise the annual Garden Party.
At the Garden Party Luke conducted the auction where members raised a record sum for local party campaigns.
Since the beginning of the year Luke has almost trebled the monthly standing order income that the Local Party receives from our brilliant members through a targeted fundraising campaign.
Fundraising is a critical part of the job for the new Sutton and Cheam candidate, and Luke has a proven track record of success in this role in Sutton Borough.
On the doorstep Luke campaigned through rain and shine alongside local activists in Cheam ward for the 2021 GLA elections, and this effort resulted in an increase of 10.3% in the Lib Dem GLA Constituency vote compared to 2016, the largest increase of any ward in the Borough.
After the GLA election in May Luke shifted focus to Belmont ward where he lives, to try to turn this ward into a target for the council election in May 2022. Due to his efforts Belmont saw the largest increase in vote share of any ward between the 2018 and 2022 election results.
In December 2021 Luke was selected as a candidate in the new Sutton West and East Cheam ward, and successfully led the campaign team to win May 2022. This ward was the only ward in Sutton and Cheam where the Liberal Democrats beat sitting Conservative Councillors.
Luke has a record of success in Sutton and Cheam, and can show how that record will turn into success for the constituency at the next General Election.
Since Luke moved to Sutton he has time and again shown his commitment to campaigning by speaking to more voters on the doorstep in the Borough than any other person between November 2020 and the council elections in May 2022.
Talking to voters on the doorstep and recruiting new volunteers to the campaign team will be the cornerstone of a successful election campaign, Luke has proven that he can win elections and build and lead teams in Sutton and Cheam, and has been doing so for the Liberal Democrats in London for the last decade.
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